Welcome @Lbholc - there are tonnes of threads on what sitters look for in good hosts if you use the spyglass function at the top RH corner of the forum. The things that always come up are welcoming, friendly hosts, responsiveness, a clean home, clear responsibilities, no hidden meds or ailments, space in the wardrobe and bathroom for their things and comprehensive, clear pics on the listing that are a true representation of your home. Hosts that see this as a genuine exchange are the ones sitters enjoy sitting for the most. We are 50+ sits in across 23 countries since 2021 and it’s been genuinely a great experience and lifestyle. Hope that helps, have a search around for more info. #welcometoths
Hi - I’m Mary and brand new to Trusted House Sitters. I’m a retired teacher living in a small hamlet on the edge of Dartmoor. I have joined the forum because I am getting very frustrated with the site and wonder if anyone else is experiencing the same thing. I posted some dates for a week in March and attracted 2 prospective sitters . When I replied to messages I discovered that both had decided to go with some other sit that they had applied to. I boosted my listing to no avail. When I looked to invite sitters, I could only find one who had any green on their calendars at all, even into next year. I have invited about 10 people but no-one can do it. How do I find available sitters if none of the calendars are coloured in green?
@marynedham Some points to consider:
- Ignore the calendar. It’s a logistical nightmare that TrustedHousesitters has chosen not to fix for years now. Many sitters choose not to use it. Its only use is it shows dates with diagonal black lines, which means the sitter is booked for a TrustedHousesitters sit, so unavailable.
- Inviting sitters is rarely successful, again in part because of the calendar but also many other factors.
- You are new & some sitters will not take a chance on that. I have had excellent experiences with new owners, most of whom look for guidance in how to process the sit. However, your pool may be limited somewhat because of your newness.
- How prompt are you in responding to sitters? With most sits I’ve booked I’ve heard from the owner within a couple of hours of applying, arranged a video meet for within 24 hrs, and all is arranged - either within hours of the start or at the very least within a day or two. Promptness is effective.
- There are lots of other suggestions of how best to manage a listing and I won’t repeat those. Take some time to look at other posts - use the spy glass and search key words and learn from others.
Welcome @marynedham to the forum. I can understand your frustration. I have found your listing. Your location and home look lovely right on the edge of Dartmoor and you have included good detail. For me, I would just want a little more clarity on walking Thibo. Am I understanding it correctly that a) he is best walked on leash all the time, even on Dartmoor, because of his lack of recall and will just run away? and b) he pulls? If this is the case, I’m thinking walking him for 2 hours daily might be hard work and not enjoyable for all concerned. Perhaps further clarification needs to be included.
I don’t know when you posted your listing but if it is some weeks ago, boost it again by removing your dates briefly then re-posting them. You can do this as often as you want to.
As @Snowbird has mentioned, the calendar is of little use and inviting sitters does not have a great success rate. The idea is to present your listing attractively (as you have) and receive applications from those interested. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee of securing a sitter/or sit for members.
Hi Everyone, My name is Gary, I am a 73 year old male just investigating ways of invigorating my golden years. have been retired for around 12 years now. and sitting around the house and looking for DIY projects is becoming a bit tedious.
I have no idea where this venture will lead me, all I know is I love animals, my wife and I were adopted by a stray Black cat around 14 years ago, and He is stil going strong. he is getting on now and is a very Independent fella. proper lap cat now though. We believe he was badly ill treated as a kitten and growing boy. he still cowers protectively from people’s feet. We love him to bits, and he trusts us completely now.
anyway, I digress the main reason I am now here is to travel a bit around the country looking after pets and find out what it is all about. My wife is not interested, but she gives her full support to get rid of me for a few weeks at a time lol. we get under each others feet quite a lot, so as I said I am getting on in years myself now but still reasonably fit. and looking for adventure (improves the minds clarity and keeps the neurons in check)
I socialise mainly online, been a bit of a lone wolf most of my life, I like to socialise in small doses. probably because I am the 1st born of 10 siblings in the 50’s not much room to spend any alone time in our household. and learning to cook at a very young age to feed my brothers and sister. Life is a lot different now in this hi-tech world. I love computers, build custom PC’s for friends and family. although that is a very rare evnt now. but I am very PC literate. did not have a lot of time for pets and animals as a child, but as I grew older met my wife and her family, VERY BIG animal lovers. I became acquainted with more and more pets. How anyone can cause harm to such trusting creatures is beyond me. the satisfaction of meeting animals/pets and finding they trust you completely is an amazing feeling. so I guess like most owners on here of their beloved pets. they feel the same way. so I am looking forward to venture forth and hopefully start my sitting in the near future.
Thank you for reading this little monologue about myself.
Take care and sincere best wishes to all. Gary (Gaz)
Thank you for reading thus far.
Welcome @Gazzamius your history and timeframe is very similar to my own, it can be tough! I hope you find plenty of sits, I don’t know how else to live after five years full-time sitting, it gets into your blood. I wish you well in your travels, retirement is not always what it’s cracked up to be I found out so sitting fixed that problem 
Thanks for that Ziggy (Great name by the way) takes me back to remembering David Bowie , happy days. It’s strange you saying that about getting into your blood. that’s the state of mind I was imagining I could experience. time will tell. kind regards Gaz
@Gazzamius the name Ziggy comes from my beloved dog whom I named after Bob Marley’s son Ziggy, and also Ziggy Stardust, correct re Bowie. My first dog was Marley 
Good luck with the sitting.
Hi, I live in Dorset with my husband of 49.5 years and 2 young (ish!) English Springer Spaniels. We are pet owners. Our village is very friendly, and quite a few families have happily had Trusted Housesitters. We look forward to welcoming our first!
(Edit to comply with forum guidelines)
Hi all, I can’t remember if I introduced myself when I joined last year, I was going through some emotional stuff, and planning a 3 month trip to UK, Spain and Ireland.
The first time i had been back in 9 years.
I had 4 absolutely fantastic sits, across 4 different counties, and really had an amazing time. I looked after dogs, cats, chickens, guinea pigs, birds, a snake and giant snail. It was such an amazing experience, and I adored them all, and missed them after I had gone.
THS really was a fantastic resource, to give me the opportunity to meet new people, cuddle new fur babies and visit new towns.
I love photography, so it was great to have some opportunity in my downtime, to explore new areas.
It was also a pilgrimage for me, as I lost my youngest son, who was only 23 years old, just over a year ago, from cardiac arrest.
Travelling to the UK, and having the THS sittings was amazing. Being welcomed into 4 different homes, by beautiful families, lots of communication before and keeping in touch after, having cuddles with lots of different fur babies.
I discovered how much I like my own company, I discovered how much I love discovering new places and meeting new people. As an older mum, nearing retirement, this has been a great “adventure starter” and a reminder of my backpacking days, and how I ended up living in Australia.
Or if there is somewhere to hang clothes, make sure there are some hangers! It’s not something sitters want to pack, especially if flying, as the weight eats into the luggage allowance. A small but such a useful thing to provide.
We are Rob and Linda from the Netherlands, both retired, and we live in Cantoria Spain, with our two eldery French Bulldogs.
We are new to trust Housekeepers and were introduced to it by our neighbours, and regularly have very kind and lovely sitters to look after their dogs. We were also fortunate that the sitter who will be staying by us in july spent a week in our region, wich gave us the opportunity to meet in person. It immediately felt very comfortable and trustworthy.
We are therefore very happy that we can go away for a week in July, knowing that our little treasures can stay in theit own familiar environment and be care for with love. Even so, i do find it a little scary to leave them behind, as i know i will miss them very much.
I am still figuring out how everithing works, such as completing the profile de tails i have read about- for example, preferences regarding non-smokers and visitors. But step by step, everithing will become clear.
Hello and Welcome! Yesss I have been a homeowner here for about a year. It took me probably 6 months or more to keep editing and improving my listing because I didnt know any better. Becsaue you have come here to the forum, you will get SOOO much info here on how to make your listing attractive, from photos to details about your home or pets. I also kept improving my Welcome Guide along the way. I didnt realize HOW MUCH TIME effort and thinking it would take to make a great listing a great welcome guide. ALSO you need to read up on how to inf YOUR perfect sitter. Do the video chats, read all or many of their reviews, read the sitters reviews of other Housesits they have done. I learned there is passive language being used on both sitter and homeowner reviews that can speak volumes without the actual words. It quite a lot to get your arms around. I wish you the best of luck as you start using THS. I have had only GREAT experiences so far. I am very detail oriented and like to ask a lot of questions on a video chat to get to know people before deciding if they are right for me. I also wrote specific things in my listing so as to avoid attracting the wrong sitters FOR ME. My listing link is on my profile if you want to look. Lastly, i have been enjoying THS so much as a Homeowner that I decided to swtich to the Dual Membership and just booked my first sit as a Sitter with my hubby in April!! So excited to be able to travel more and feel good about leaving my fur babies and hone, while also traveling and having someone else’s fur baby to spend time with. I call it getting my animal fix while traveling.
I’d like to welcome any home/pet owners in Jersey Channel Islands who signed up recently using my discount QR code. I might’ve met you on a beach walking dogs whilst I was on a sit, or maybe you saw my messages on the Jersey fb community groups. Either way thank you for joining and creating more sits on the Island! I visit every 6 weeks or so so the more sits created there the better (not just for me) but other sitters wanting to visit.
Btw any sitters who like me are regular visitors please message me for a catch up/coffee at a beach cafe sometime. I’m back on the Island 29th March for 3 days.
Hi Everyone
We’re Kathy and Richard and joined THS last year when we were looking for somebody to look after our Fox Red labrador, Tony.
We’ve hosted 5 lots of people so far and THS has far exceeded our expectations. We’ve met some wonderful people who have care for our pet and our home perfectly.
We’re very conscious of making Sitters feel as comfortable as possible. We’re happy for them to use anything in the house and want to make them feel valued.
We’re very open and honest. Tony was only 9 months when we first had Sitters so not perfect by any means. However I’m happy to say he’s really well behaved now and has always seemed very happy and settled when we’ve Sitters.
We love having Sitters and meeting new people and maybe one day we’ll become Sitters ourselves.
@Foxred Lovely to meet you, Kathy and Richard. You sound just like the kind of hosts many of us appreciate and who understand the concept of an equal exchange. I bet there are a few of us who would love to know your location so I hope you will share that with us.
Thanks @temba@temba@temba@temba.
We’re in the UK in a little place called West Kirby. It’s in a place called wirral which is a peninsular, sandwiched I between Liverpool and North Wales. We live by the beach and love where we live.
Great location @Foxred and I see it’s not all that far from Chester, one of my favourite places. I know some of the UK sitters here on the forum will now be favouriting it. I live in Australia and, although I visit the UK annually, I’ll keep my fingers crossed one day I’ll be available to apply to look after Tony as I’m definitely a Labrador lover.
Welcome @Foxred I know West Kirby, my husband and I did a sit in the Wirral at Great Meols in May 2024. A great spot that I’d happily return to.